Is It Okay To Use Marijuana While On Antibiotics?
Are antibiotics compatible for use with marijuana? Unsurprisingly, recent Google searches prove that this question is the most searched as an increasing number of people turn to cannabis for their day-to-day therapy.
As much as it’s imprudent to consume other drugs – such as alcohol – alongside an antibiotic prescription, cannabis is exceptionally a natural plant that pairs up with most medications. Unluckily though, there’s little information about this topic. Regardless, is it okay to combine the two?
Not precisely.
This article covers everything about using marijuana while on antibiotics, including the effects of CBD on antibiotics and available scientific research. Notably, please don’t use this information as a substitute for medical advice since it’s independently researched.
What are antibiotics – and how do they affect your body
An antibiotic kills or terminates the growth of microorganisms, and doctors usually recommend them to fight off bacterial infections. It’s a vague term describing anything with a similar form of action to hamper bacterial growth and development. Antibiotics have had a crucial purpose throughout history and continue to impact the contemporary world of medicine. However, early forms of antibiotics couldn’t prove to be more efficient than those in the present, thanks to the advancement in technology and sophistication of research.
Some antibiotics are target-specific, while others tackle multiple strains of bacteria. (Some can kill everything in their path while others are good for the body, a typical reason why various people have problems with them). This level of inconsistency makes it highly unpredictable for use and can be incompatible with some users. However, with technology, it’s become possible to figure out which antibiotics target multiple bacteria or which a more specific.
It’s no doubt that you’ve heard about penicillin before, heralded as the most important all-time medical discovery. Typically, antibiotic prescriptions are prevalent in modern medicine, and penicillin is one of the most popular. That’s thanks to contemporary medical technology, which has helped engineer and mass produce this antibiotic. It’s helped fight off disease-causing microorganisms, with some monitored uses proving efficient and incredibly workable.
Nonetheless, constant antibiotic use can lead to issues, including the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, causing a head-spin among researchers and doctors. Although antibiotics’ sheer ability to act and terminate harmful microorganisms seems appealing, unmetered use can be detrimental with adverse side effects in the body. Besides, it’s the reason we’re dealing with MRSA and numerous other types of bacterial staph infections.
Despite that, antibiotics are a sought-after prescription drug in the United States that helps defeat illnesses that were dubbed deadly a century ago. Most health departments prefer using them in terminating harmful disease-causing bacteria to curb illnesses or reduce their strength, which eventually impacts healing. This perpetual harmful microorganism termination ability makes them incredibly integrative in the health docket.
Cannabis and antibiotics
Cannabis is good for the general quality of life, including happiness and health, and its use is prevalent in the United States and globally. Its CBD variant is a natural sedative, inducing a sense of calmness when consumed. Conversely, THC causes the body’s vigor and stimulation which escalates mood and activity. This ability to alter the normal cognitive and psychological processes makes it a fan favorite, with numerous people in various states becoming more aware of it.
However, is it safe for cannabis users to take an antibiotic simultaneously? What really would happen, and what are the projected effects? First, let’s examine how marijuana interacts with various medications before answering this question.
How cannabis interacts with medication
Although marijuana’s interaction with other forms of medication isn’t an area so much circled by research, it’s largely reputable as a safe drug. That means its overdose potential and toxicity are less impactful or severe than other drugs acting solely. Some abusive drugs tag along with some harmful impact both psychologically and biologically. And although marijuana tends to alter normal body functioning, it’s not often as adverse.
Everything you ingest invokes some biological response and has a chemical and/or psychological consequence, and it’s essential to keep that in mind. That includes the food you eat and the drinks you take, and the impact could either be desirable or adverse. And marijuana is undeniably among the body-altering substances when consumed, impacting both cognitive and physical body processes.
As much as we’re aware of the effects cannabis generally has on the human body, the interaction between cannabis and prescription medicine is often challenging to catalog. That’s because the amount of available evidence about their compatibility is limited and therefore provides no ground for drawing meaningful conclusions. The only possibility that remains is extrapolating the impact of marijuana on other medications and relating it to the use of antibiotics.
It’s apparent that bronchitis tags along symptoms associated with smoking cannabis and that there’s a contraindication between cannabis use and acute psychosis. Nonetheless, as it’s already apparent, there’s little research available about antibiotics and marijuana use to provide specific information. Perhaps, more research could provide some much-needed information to cover gaps in knowledge in the future.
According to doctors, to the best of his knowledge, no reports on the interactions between antibiotic medications and cannabis exist currently. However, whether they’re ongoing but still undocumented, the current situation suggests otherwise.
So probably, it’s safe to say that marijuana and antibiotics are compatible. Perhaps, the pure natural state of cannabis gives it the edge on the safety of use since it lacks any synthetic additives or sets of engineered compounds. However, that’s not guaranteed and shouldn’t be anywhere near being reliable medical advice. Instead, it’d be prudent to seek medical guidance from your health provider before using it.
Answering the question: ‘Is it safe to use marijuana with antibiotics?’
Evidence from research about the compatibility between marijuana and antibiotics is limited due to the absence of clinical studies. Especially so, there are no medical reports on people suffering from adverse effects of using marijuana alongside some antibiotics. Fair to say, we’re all suffering from a shocking shortage of research, although there’s continued concern for the medical use of cannabis.
Cannabinoids typically have antibacterial properties – far much varied from antibiotic properties. In fact, one study points out a variety of MRSA strains against the ‘potent activity’ of five major cannabinoids, including CBD and THC.
In that regard, the physical act of smoking cannabis would irritate parts of the respiratory system. That hypothetically affects the activity of antibiotic medications on the bacteria-prone parts. Nonetheless, there are alternative non-smoking ways of consuming marijuana that include taking them as edibles in foods, drinks, and cookies.
Edibles as an alternative to smoking cannabis
Most people would get skeptical about consuming such foods with the fear that it’d affect them or alter their metabolism, but rather, they’re usually safe and metered. Edibles are foods having a cannabis derivatives infusion, including THC or CBD. It’s a chemical integration of cannabis extracts to offer more than the normal food could offer. Usually, they’re manufactured under supervised conditions, and the process is overseen by qualified professionals and quality standards, leaving no room for chance. ‘Infusion,’ however, isn’t some chemical experiment that some big company puts in your food, as you might think.
That isn’t quite the case.
In fact, it’s seemingly the opposite. Edibles are the foods you can make in your kitchen and are completely safe to consume. To cook anything, you can use it in oils, including infused cannabis oil or cannabutter. Many other types of cannabis oils, including CBD, can be ideal for you if you’re not impartial to edibles. Sometimes, the body can refuse to assimilate some edibles, and that disarrays you if you have no alternative options to run to.
CBD oil as an alternative to smoking cannabis
In its numerous forms, CBD is used as a natural pain reliever and works well to treat sleep issues, inflammation, anxiety, and day-to-day stress. Its benefits are merited and proved to be incredibly impactful to most of the body’s psychological and biological processes. Besides, there’s evidence that it can be remediating with the Epidiolex able to treat two rare forms of epilepsy, and is a recently FDA-approved product.
CBD invigorates your immune system by stimulating your body to produce its own endocannabinoids. These are body receptors in your body that form the endocannabinoid system and help perfect the body’s defenses, offering an extra boost to fend off diseases and infections in the body. Alternatively, other cannabis oils reduce the dependence on antibiotic medications which improves immune health, although there’s little available evidence to support this.
Final thoughts – is it safe to use cannabis while on antibiotics?
Although it’s always commendable to speak to a physician about using cannabis and antibiotics together, it’s apparent that it doesn’t appear to have any adverse effects. Since cannabis is a natural plant and has a history of combining it with most medications pretty seamlessly, there is a tiny chance that it’d be detrimental to you. Nonetheless, remember to be open about your cannabis use since doctors are there to help you out.
Eventually, it helps to do your research. That equips you with sufficient information on the combined use of antibiotics and marijuana with solid proof about the impact it has on your health. Besides, if that’s feasible, you’ll have the information concerning the use of the right amount of cannabis to prevent overuse and potential adverse effects. Consulting your doctor can also be a worthy decision to point things out clearly. However, please don’t take this article’s information and directions as a substitute for medical advice, as we strongly reiterate against doing so.
A word on marijuana use and antibiotics
Drug-drug interaction is possible whenever one consumes more than one drug simultaneously. And although there are not many reports documenting this interaction, one drug can affect the metabolism and the absorption of another. Some drugs can be weak in action and won’t stand the vigor shown by others. That means they get absorbed much slower and less efficiently than they’d have been they used singly. That possibility exists and is so much possible.
CBD usually gets metabolized by the P-450, a system of enzymes in the body. Drugs resulting from this interaction are the inhibitors and the inducers of these enzymes. An inducing agent invigorates another drugs’ metabolism three-fold or two-fold over a while. That could either increase its activity or hamper it in the long run depending on the response observed.
The importance of inducing agents
Medications and inducing agents consumed together must change the doses of the other medicines due to the increased rate of metabolism. That reduces the effect of the medication and could lead to therapeutic failure in the long run. It suggests that there’s the possibility of medication being less effective afterward, especially when used in tandem with inducing agents.
Besides, medications taken together with inducing agents inhibiting its metabolism raise the drug levels, resulting in adverse or harmful effects. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or a manufacturer’s website puts information regarding a drug’s CYP450 metabolism and potential for induction or inhibition on the drug label.
It’s your physician’s job to decipher which antibiotics are inducers or inhibitors. Therefore, it’s essential to consult them if you’re using CBD and plan on taking an antibiotic for an antifungal medication. Ensure that your doctor is familiar with your CBD use to advise you on the impact of the antibiotic on the metabolism of your CBD to alter its drug effect.
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